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Dichromatic and Diadic

di means two, and so any color scheme using only two colors is a dichromatic color scheme. Your complimentary color scheme would be a dichromatic color scheme. Every complimentary color scheme is dichromatic, as it is only using two colors. However, not every dichromatic color scheme is complimentary, as the colors must be directly across from each other to be complimentary, but don’t have to for dichromatic.

Your next color scheme is diadic, or sometimes termed diad. A diadic color scheme is a color scheme that uses two colors, separated by a color between them. It is basically an analogous color scheme, minus the color between them. Check out the diagram below:

Of course, it doesn’t have to be red and orange, it could be any pair of colors separating by a single color; such as green and yellow, or yellow-green and yellow-orange, or red-violet and red-orange, or violet and blue, or etc. Choose a diadic color scheme and create a composite image utilizing only those two colors.